Atari Jaguar, everywhere RetroArch runs.

The RetroArch core runs inside RetroArch and any other libretro frontend, on every platform above. The app (new in v3.9.0) is a standalone program for macOS, Windows and Linux, built on the same core, so options and save states behave the same.

• Game library with box art, favorites, recents and save-state thumbnails
• RetroArch .slangp shader presets (librashader), cheats, controller remapping, a Netplay window for LAN link play
• RetroAchievements (softcore or hardcore, login kept in the system keychain) and Discord Rich Presence
• Light and dark themes, a theme editor and a choice of interface font
• Debug tools: memory viewer, cheat scanner, Object Processor list, blitter log, texture browser, audio scope, and a 68000, GPU and DSP debugger with breakpoints

See the app

Direct links for every platform are on the Download page (latest: v3.9.0), or let the installer do it. It installs the RetroArch core, the standalone app, or both, checks every download against the release's SHA256SUMS.txt, and the same command updates whichever you already have. For the core it finds your RetroArch, backs up the core it replaces and checks that the new one loads.

macOS, Linux, Raspberry Pi

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/libretro/virtualjaguar-libretro/develop/tools/install.sh | sh

Windows (PowerShell)

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/libretro/virtualjaguar-libretro/develop/tools/install.ps1 | iex

Installer options

Both ask what to install when run in a terminal. To skip the question, add --what core, --what app or --what both: curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/libretro/virtualjaguar-libretro/develop/tools/install.sh | sh -s -- --what both. On Windows, iex cannot take arguments, so set $env:VJ_WHAT = 'both' first, or run & ([scriptblock]::Create((irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/libretro/virtualjaguar-libretro/develop/tools/install.ps1))) -What both.

install.sh (Linux, Raspberry Pi, macOS) and install.ps1 (Windows) take --dry-run / -DryRun to print the plan and change nothing, and --channel nightly / -Channel nightly. The app goes to /Applications on macOS, ~/.local/bin as an AppImage on Linux (--app-format deb for the package) and %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\VirtualJaguar on Windows. On a Pi the core installer reads the word size from the RetroArch binary, not the kernel, because the core must match RetroArch (rpi4 is 32-bit, rpi4_64 is 64-bit). Nightlies build from develop (currently v3.9.0) and are gated on compiling, not on the test suite.

Manual: libretro docs, with core options and controls. No BIOS files are required (README: BIOS). Wondering whether your game works? See Compatibility.

Jaguar CD

CUE/BIN, CDI and CHD. Boots through an HLE CD BIOS (default) or the real BIOS on emulated BUTCH hardware. Audio CDs and the Virtual Light Machine work. With no content loaded, the core starts at the CD BIOS insert-disc screen. A disc swap restarts the console. HLE CD titles are deterministic under run-ahead and rollback, and a state saved mid-load resumes the load. CHD needs a session-aware chdman; every release attaches one.

compatibility · v3.7.0 notes · v3.8.0 notes

Controllers

ST and Amiga mouse, the Tempest 2000 rotary, TR10 analog and driving, the port-1 lightgun, the Team Tap, the Pro Controller and the 6D flight stick. Dead zone, offset and response are tunable per axis. The 6D stick is a best attempt: no software that uses it is known.

input guide · v3.5.0 notes

Link play

JagLink and CatBox serial, at register level. Automatic mode rides a RetroArch netplay session with nothing to type. Direct TCP finds LAN hosts by UDP beacon. Doom deathmatch is validated, and since v3.8.0 it no longer drops to 30 fps. Ultra Vortek dials the emulated Voice Modem (press 911 at the title screen), and voice chat carries speech over it.

user guide · voice-modem.md

Savestates and run-ahead

Byte-identical replay under RetroArch’s run-ahead loop, checked by a harness. The format is v17. Older states still load, but older cores cannot read v17.

PR #327 · savestate-compat.md

RetroAchievements

Memory maps and achievement support, asserted in CI against the rcheevos mapping.

test_memory_map.c · test_rcheevos_e2e.sh · v3.9.0 notes

GameDrive and Memory Track

GameDrive 16 MB bank switching against RetroHQ’s GDBIOS bindings; GD-locked homebrew boots, and since v3.8.0 GameDrive software can read and write an SD card backed by a host folder. The CD unit’s Memory Track save cartridge is emulated, so CD saves persist.

GameDrive notes · memory-track.md

HD textures

Dump every unique blit source as a hashed PNG, redraw it, drop it in a pack directory. Replacement is presentation only, so savestates and netplay stay bit-identical with or without a pack.

details · texture-dump.md

Patches, cheats and hooks

The frontend applies cartridge softpatches (IPS and friends). CD images are not softpatched. Your own vj_hooks.txt patches load behind a core option.

patching-a-game.md · rom-patches.md

Debugging

A GDB remote stub exposes the 68K, GPU and DSP as threads. A crash watchdog writes the failing subsystem into your frontend log. Series K and Model M boot ROMs are embedded, and a custom image is identified by checksum.

GDB stub · app debug tools · crash_detect.c

Source

GPLv3, descended from Shamus Hammons’ Virtual Jaguar. Hardware-referenced tests gate CI.

licence · why this core

Older releases (v3.6.0 to v3.0.0)

Version	What landed	Links
v3.6.0	Debugger & libretro surface. A GDB remote stub you can attach a real m68k-elf-gdb to, the disk-control interface that makes booting with no content and swapping a disc mid-session possible, a user-authorable patch/hook file, and a broad SIMD pass that speeds up the parts of the emulator that were actually hot.	release · notes
v3.5.1	A small fast-follow to v3.5.0. No emulation behaviour changes: this release makes the core options honest about what they do to each other, shortens the descriptions that had grown into walls of text, and fixes a test fixture that kept make test red on a clean tree.	release · notes
v3.5.0	Every Jaguar controller Atari shipped (and one it never did) is now emulated, community HD texture packs can replace a title's own blitter art, the Voice Modem can carry an actual voice, and the core can finally be profiled on the device instead of only on a developer's desktop.	release · notes
v3.4.0	The peripheral release. Every controller the Jaguar ever had - plus the one that let you phone your opponent - now works, alongside a texture-dump pipeline for HD pack authors and user-selectable boot ROMs.	release · notes
v3.3.0	Hi-res completion and correctness release: the internal-resolution track now adds real detail on every video mode and on scaled sprite objects, not just CRY gouraud - which is what finally makes 2D titles benefit.	release · notes
v3.2.0	Enhancement-suite release: the first two visible pieces of the modern-emulation track - full-precision gouraud rendering and 2x internal resolution - plus a cluster of game-fix work: Raiden's two bugs, Power Drive Rally's mid-game sound freeze, and damaged CDI V2 rips now booting.	release · notes
v3.1.0	New-feature release: Jaguar GameDrive support, clock-scale (overclock) options, audio-CD / Virtual Light Machine playback, and savestate compatibility restored for every format any released core ever wrote - plus a substantially hardened test suite that now covers the CD path in CI with no commercial discs.	release · notes
v3.0.0	Jaguar CD support matures into a full local-corpus boot pass in both BIOS and HLE modes, Jaguar Link networking ships (JagLink/CatNet over TCP and RetroArch netplay), core options are reorganized into categories with content-aware hiding, and a wide compatibility wave lands across retail carts.	release · notes

Every release, with its binaries, is on the releases page.

Reports go in Discussions, confirmed bugs in Issues. Attach the frontend log: the crash watchdog writes the failure signature into it.